When Hilary (aka Missfoster) asked us writers in Sweden who would like to write an article on Santa Lucia’s DayI thought that it wasn’t something for me.

“This is my first Santa Lucia in Sweden in my whole lifetime and I dunno much about it, maybe somebody else like a Swede should write about it, not an Italian!”

And I thought that Thomas did an excellent job already with his post on Lucia…

The only thing I know about Santa Lucia in Italy is a funny rhyme:
“Santa Lucia, il giorno più corto che ci sia.”
Which means “Saint Lucie, the shortest of the days”, if referred to sunlight makes perfect sense both in Italy and Sweden.

Then I did some quick research over the Internet, curious to know the story of the saint, Lucia.

She was Italian, off course, but my eyes became stuck on the city where she came from: Siracusa.

As far as I know almost every city of Italy has it’s own saint and when it comes to that day normally it is a city wide holiday (no work since Italians are lazy).

The mountain in the background is the volcano called “Etna”.

Siracusa is in Sicily… and in an ogonblick everything became clear in my mind: I knew why Santa Lucia’s day is more important in Sweden than in Italy.

The Normans, I wrote about them on and old article, brought back to Sweden the cult of the saint so important for the whole area where they sovreigned (Naples and below all the way to Sicily), after they settled down in the south of Italy!

Since 1970 in the City of Siracusa there takes place an event called “Lucia di Svezia e Settimana Svedese” “Lucie of Sweden and the Swedish Week”. At the end of the week, which is on the 20th of December, young Swedish girls “Lucia di Svezia” go to Italy to represent Lucia, as you can see in the video.

Since Swedish girls are VERY important to Italians they are heavily escorted by the carabinieri, our military police

And, celebrating Santa Lucia in Sweden today, I feel little closer to Italy and to Sweden at the same time.

Wow. I was so lucky to get the chance to go back to Sweden in September for a Swedish wedding. I got to see my friends, the town I lived in, and experience even more Swedish culture (including hockey!). And it was heart-breaking, realizing I had to leave.

Realizing the awesomeness of Sweden and what I was missing by not living there. But really, what am I missing when not living in Sweden and living in the US? Well, let’s take a look at the awesomeness of Sweden a bit.

Swedish Beauty

Sweden is gorgeous! In Norrland there are little people and lots of trees. I love it. I could go forever seeing trees in the forrest and the lakes of Sweden. It is definitely a beautiful country. And this is not comparing it to anything else (Montana is beautiful too!)

And then the people. I think it must have something to do with the sun not being up during the winter, but people in Sweden have the greatest skin! They are a beautiful, beautiful people. I think I have yet to meet an ugly Swede.

Universal Health Care

So, in the United States we don’t have this. And I miss it, and more than ever after living here for 11 months.

True, I did like Czech Republic’s health care better than Sweden. Sweden’s health care is not flawless. Epsecially their lack of focus on prevention. But everyone has it.

There are no fundraisers for a child with cancer. Or for your friend with cancer. Or for your neighbour with cancer. There is no need to fundraise because people are taken care of! True, higher taxes pay for it. But why force people to worry about money when they are sick??

Universal Education

I applied to get my master degree in Sweden because it was free and I wanted to get my masters. Amazing. Sure, you have to calculate cost of books and cost of time, but you don’t have to actually pay for your education if you are a Swedish citizen.

Back in the U.S. my brother has more than a $30,000 to pay off for his masters, my roommate has a loan for her education, and my little brother will be getting a $160,000 loan to pay for his schooling. And yes, there are interest rates on these loans.

For some reason, I think tax paid education is awesome!

Being Green

When I think of Sweden, I think of blue and gold (the flag), and white (snow). But the true color of Sweden is green! They recycle everything and are super innovated when it comes to technology. But they are very aware of the affect they produce on the environment. There are rules in place such as not running your car on idle, in order to protect the environment.

It may not work perfectly, but Skelleftea recycles it’s organic waste to make fuel for the garbage trucks and other city vehicles. Sweden turned me completely green, and now I miss living in a country where the environment takes a huge priority.

More Play, Less Work

Swedes know the importance of free time and enjoying your life. Remember, we only have one life to live, or at least that we know of. So we should enjoy our life!

Which is why, in Sweden, you get 5 weeks paid vacation. Not two. 5 weeks to enjoy yourself and live your life! This does not mean that nothing gets done, or that the economy suffers from it. Nope. Sweden functions extremely well with 5 weeks paid vacation.

And shall we talk about maternity leave? 480 days of materinty leave last I checked. Daddies get some days off too! So you actually have time to enjoy your child’s early years. This is actually quite common in Europe, to have maternity leave longer than 6 months. And I think in the U.S. many people don’t even get 6 months. Maybe two.

I know that I want to enjoy my life, and my children when I choose to have them. And not only work until the grave.

Swedish Friendliness

When I left Sweden, I kinda felt kicked out of my home. I didn’t dive too much into my personal situation on here, but all you need to know is that it didn’t end on a kindly note with the people involved.

With Skelleftea being such a small town, and with most of my friends being people I met through my ex, I was afraid I would be ostracised. I was afraid that everyone would think I was evil.

Silly American. How untrue that was! Everyone was so welcoming. They were so happy that I made the trip out there for the wedding, and they treated me with such grace and respect. We know that Swedes hate confrontation, which could have been part of it, but I felt loved and welcomed and wanting to return home!

As an American, I do find Swedes hard to read sometimes, because they are less emotional than what I’m used to. But also as an American who lived most of her adult life in Europe and now finds herself thrown into middle America, I find many Americans way too emotional, dramatic, and hard to deal with. Even the men!

In the end, everyone’s true colors come out. Once you get to know Swedes, you will realize how kind hearted the majority of them are.

Taking your fair share

This story I tell my American friends over and over again. And it still shocks me today when I think of it. But it is proof that Swedes know how to take just their fair share and nothing more!

So at this amazing Swedish wedding, there was a beautiful cake. Now the bride and groom did their typical cake cutting, and then sat down. In the U.S., usually the cake is served by the staff so everyone gets a fair share. Or there is so much cake it doesn’t matter how much you take. But this was one cake. One. And we were serving our selves.

I took my fair share, not to big, not to small, and went to sit down. And I watched. I watched the line of people who wanted cake, and I watched the cake dwindle. I thought for sure, for sure! this cake was going to run out before the last person. There just wasn’t enough cake for everyone.

Not with Swedes. They know how to take their fair share. Not too much, not too little. And I was wrong. There was enough cake for everyone. There was exactly one slice of cake left over after the last person took their fair share and sat down.

That is part of an amazing, work together, help one another, culture. And I love it.

My Home

As I’m writing these, I’m getting very teary-eyed. I wasn’t done with Sweden. And I’m not done with Sweden. They are building their country into something the whole world should model after. They help each other, help the world, and become better in the process.

Now, Sweden is far from perfect. They have flaws, just like any country has flaws. But they are on the right track, going in the right direction, at Swedish speed. Not to fast, not to slow, just right.

And it is something I would be proud to be a part of. So as I write this, I make a declaration.